Collapsible clothesline dryer



June 30, 1964 c, SHORE 3,139,190

COLLAPSIBLE CLOTHESLINE DRYER Filed July 29, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. CHARLES SHORE BY WWW ATTORNEYS.

June 30, 1964 c. SHORE 3,139,190

COLLAPSIBLE CLOTHESLINE DRYER Filed July 29, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. CHARLES SHORE BY WWW ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent 3,139,190 COLLAPSIBLE CLOTHESLINE DRYER Charles Shore, 7507 Rowland Ave., Cheltenham, Pa. Filed July 29, 1960, Ser. No. 46,237 4 Claims. (Cl. 211--178) This invention relates to a clothesline dryer of the collapsible type in which a plurality of clotheslines are arranged to substantially parallel.

Parallel clothesline dryers are often arranged to have a plurality of individual clothes lines strung between two parallel hangers with line receiving apertures therein and individually knotted at each end. This arrangement of individual lines requires the user to spend a considerable time in stringing the individual lines or in removing or re placing the lines. It may be desirable under certain weather conditions or in extended periods of disuse to remove the clothesline from the dryer. However, the arrangement of individual clotheslines in a dozen or dozens of individual lines each knotted at its ends makes the removal or stretching of the lines a tedious task.

It is an object of this invention to provide a new and improved clothesline dryer of the collapsible type.

Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved clothesline dryer having a plurality of parallel lines that are readily strung and removed.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a new and improved collapsible clotheslines dryer having a plurality of parallel lines that may be conveniently lashed in place and that are effectively retained in stretched or collapsed conditions.

In accordance with this invention, a collapsible dryer includes a plurality of arms that swing horizontally about a vertical standard. A pair of hangers are mounted on the arms in parallel relation. A plurality of slots are formed in an edge of each hanger, and the spacing of the slots is similar in the pair of hangers. A single length of clothesline is lashed between the pair of hangers and alternatingly along each of said members to an adjacent slot to form a plurality of parallel clotheslines.

The foregoing and other objects of this invention, the features thereof, as well as the invention itself may be more fully appreciated and understood from the following description which is presented to be read together with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a top view of a collapsible clothes dryer embodying this invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged end view of a hanger member embodying this invention taken partly in section along the line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view of a hanger member embodying this invention as viewed from the line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a top view of the hanger member shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a portion of a hanger member illustrating another species of this invention; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a hanger member illustrating still another species of this invention.

In the drawing, corresponding parts are referred to by similar numerals.

In FIG. 1, a collapsible clothesline dryer is illustrated as viewed from the top. A vertical strandard or post 10 supports adjacent its upper end a pair of connected tubular arms 12, 12, which swing in a horizontal plane relative to a second pair of connected tubular arms 14, 14. Struts 16, 18 respectively connected to the arms 12, 14 and mounted on the post 10 support the arms 12, 14 in the extended horizontal position. A pair of clothesline hanger members 20, 22 are slidably connected between the arms 12, 14 adjacent opposite ends thereof. This 3,139,190 Patented June 30, 1964 general arrangement of a collapsible clothesline dryer is described in more detail in the copending patent application Serial No. 740,336 filed on June 6, 1958.

This slidable connection of one of the cross-arms, arm 14, to the hanger 20 is illustrated in FIGS. 2-4. Hanging from the arm 14 adjacent its end is an eyelet 24, which is pivoted to the arm 14 by means of a bolt 26. Slidable in the eyelet 24 is a guide rod 28 that extends in parallel relation most of the length of the hanger 20 and is fastened thereto at its ends.

The hanger 20 is a U-channel member, which may be formed of extruded aluminum stock oriented to lie sideways. The hanger 20 is fastened to the guide 28 at the upper one 30 of the channel legs by suitable spaced fasteners 32 that extend between both channel legs 30 and 34. A plurality of slots 36 are formed in the channel legs 30, 34 along the entire length of the hanger 20. These slots 36 extend from the open edges of the channel about half of the width of the legs. The hanger 22 is constructed in the same way as hanger 20. The spacing between the slots 36 may be uniform or varied, but the spacing in the two hangers 20 and 22 is the same so that the slots are in corresponding positions.

The dryer is collapsed by swinging the arms 12--12, 1414 towards each other as indicated by the arrow 37, which action moves the channeled hangers 20, 22 towards each other. The eyelet 24 and guide 28 arrangements permit relative movement of the arms 12, 14 and hangers 20, 22 in collapsing the dryer. To extend the dryer, the hangers 20, 22 are moved apart and the arms 1212, 1414 swung in the opposite direction.

The U-channel hangers 20, 22 are mounted with the open channels thereof and the slots therein facing in opposite directions. This orientation is preferred for purposes of lashing a clothesline thereon as is now described.

In stringing the clothesline, the dryer is placed in the extended condition shown in FIG. 1, and a single length of line 38 is used. A knot 40 is formed at one end of the line 38, and it is positioned in the slot 36 in the lower leg 34 of the hanger member 20. The line passes through the slot 36 in the upper leg 30 and extends across to the corresponding first slots in the hanger 22 (FIG. 1) to form the first clothesline 42. The line passes under the hanger 22 up through the next set of slots and back across to the slots 36 in hanger 20 to form the second clothesline 44. The line passes through the second set of slots 36 in the hanger 20 under the lower leg 34 and up through the third set of slots 36. The third clothesline 46 is formed by the passage of the line across to the hanger 22. This lashing operation is repeated for successive slots in the manner described with a stringing across the hangers alternating with a stringing along of a hanger. At the last slot, a knot is formed in the line in a manner similar to the knot 40, to retain the line in position therein. Thus, a single length of line is used for the entire dryer, and the lashing may be quickly and neatly performed without individual knots at each of the plurality of parallel clotheslines. The clothesline may be quickly removed by slipping it out of the slots. In practice, if the line 38 is slightly thicker than the slot width, the line tends to be retained frictionally within each slot even when the hangers 20, 22 are moved together in collapsed condition as when the arms 12-12 and 1414 are positioned with one swung against the other. In this collapsed condition, the tight friction fit holds the line 38 in the slots, and the clotheslines 42, 44, 46 fall in loops without disruption of the lashing. Rope or plastic clotheslines usually have suflicient resilience for a friction hold in the slots.

In FIG. 5, hanger member 50 is illustrated which is similar generally to hanger 20 except for a different shape of slot 52 in the edges of the legs 54, 56 of the U-channel 50. The slots 52 have a keyhole shape, 'the neck 58 of which is narrower than the normal diameter of clothesline to be used, but large enough to permit the line to be squeezed through. The main portions 59 of the slots are larger in diameter to permit sliding of the line therein and thereby ready adjustment of the tension in the clothesline. The narrow neck 58 retains the line within the slots under all conditions of the dryer. The lashing of the line may be performed similarly as described above.

In FIG. 6, a hanger 60 similar to hanger 20 has a plurality of slots 62 formed in the edges of the legs 64-, 66 similar to the slots 36. However, each of the slots 62 has a transverse inner portion 68, which extends longitudinally of the hanger 60, and which terminates in an enlarged portion 70. The longitudinal slot portion 68 tends to prevent escape of the clothesline.

' Thus, in accordance with this invention a new and improved collapsible clothes dryer is provided. A slotted hanger construction permits the use of a single length of clothesline which may be quickly and conveniently lashed in place and readily removed. The ditferent embodiments that have been described illustrate features of the invention without limiting the scope thereof.

What is claimed as the invention is:

1. In a collapsible clothesline dryer having a central standard adapted for vertical mounting, and a plurality of interconnected arms adapted for swinging horizontally about said standard, a clothesline hanging structure attached to said arms and including a pair of'clothesline hanger members connected to said arms for movement toward and awayfrom each other, said hanger members each comprising a U-channel member with a plurality of slots in and spaced along the edge of each leg of the U-channel, with the slots in said pair of members I 1 wherein the channels of said hanger members and the slots in the legs face in opposite directions away from each other.

3. A collapsible clothesline dryer as recited in claim 1 wherein said slots are keyhole shaped.

4. A collapsible clothesline dryer as recited in claim 1 wherein each of said slots are formed in two transverse sections, a first one of said slot sections extending transversely from the edge of said hanger member, and the other of said slot sections being a continuation of said first section and extending longitudinally of said hanger.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,028,630 Stryker et a1. June 4, 1912 1,896,996 Beglinger Feb. 7, 1933 2,595,183 Wicks Apr. 29, 1952 2,670,855 Pierie Mar. 2, 1954 2,795,337 Hagar June 11, 1957 2,887,233 Bybee May 19, 1959 

1. IN A COLLAPSIBLE CLOTHESLINE DRYER HAVING A CENTRAL STANDARD ADAPTED FOR VERTICAL MOUNTING, AND A PLURALITY OF INTERCONNECTED ARMS ADAPTED FOR SWINGING HORIZONTALLY ABOUT SAID STANDARD, A CLOTHESLINE HANGING STRUCTURE ATTACHED TO SAID ARMS AND INCLUDING A PAIR OF CLOTHESLINE HANGER MEMBERS CONNECTED TO SAID ARMS FOR MOVEMENT TOWARD AND AWAY FROM EACH OTHER, SAID HANGER MEMBERS EACH COMPRISING A U-CHANNEL MEMBER WITH A PLURALITY OF SLOTS IN AND SPACED ALONG THE EDGE OF EACH LEG OF THE U-CHANNEL, WITH THE SLOTS IN SAID PAIR OF MEMBERS BEING SIMILARLY SPACED TO SUPPORT A LENGTH OF ROPE IN A PLURALITY OF SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL CLOTHESLINE, A LENGTH OF ROPE ENGAGED IN SAID SLOTS AND EXTENDING BACK AND FORTH FROM THE TWO HANGER MEMBERS TO FORM THE PARALLEL CLOTHESLINES, SAID SLOTS EACH HAVING AN OPEN END TO ENABLE THE ROPE TO BE LATERALLY INSERTED THEREIN THEREBY AVOIDING THREADING THEREOF, AND THE ENTRANCE OF EACH SLOT HAVING A WIDTH WHICH IS LESS THAN THE THICKNESS OF SAID ROPE TO FRICTIONALLY SECURE THE ROPE THEREIN. 